Chang Chi-luan 張季鸾 Orig. Chang Ch'ih-chang 張熾章 Chang Chi-luan (20 March 1888-6 September 1941), editor of the leading newspaper Ta Kung Pao, was a pioneer advocate of freedom in reporting and in expressing editorial opinion in the Chinese press. Although Chang Chi-luan was born in Tsoup'ing hsien, Shantung province, his family's ancestral home was in […]

Chang Hsün 張勳 T. Shao-hsuan 少軒 H. Sung-shou 松壽 Chang Hsün (14 December 1854-September 1923), military leader, is best known for his unsuccessful attempt to restore the Manchu dynasty in 1917. The family into which Chang Hsün was born had lived for generations in a small village near the district-city of Fenghsin, west of Nanchang […]

Chang Chih-chiang T. Tzu-min H. Tzu-chiang West. Paul C. C. Chiang Chang Chih-chiang (1882- ? ) was a military officer associated with Feng Yü-hsiang (q.v.) for many years prior to 1927. A native of Chihli (Hopei) province, Chang Chih-chiang was born into a landlord family in the Yenshan district. Since his father was the village […]

Hsü Shu-cheng (4 November 1880-30 December 1925), held many important offices in Peking as the most powerful deputy of Tuan Ch'i-jui (q.v.) in the period from 1912 to 1920 and co-founder of the Anfu Club. His actions in extending Chinese authority in Outer Mongolia after 1918 turned the Mongols against China and were a chief […]

Wang Yin-t'ai (14 July 1888-15 December 1961), German-trained lawyer who was counselor of the law drafting bureau at Peking in 1914-19. He later held a variety of positions at Peking, becoming minister of foreign affairs in 1927. During the Sino-Japanese war, he held office in the Japanese-sponsored government in north China. Born in Shaohsing, Ghekiang, […]

Wang I-t'ang (6 October 1878-September 1946), political associate of Yuan Shih-k'ai and Tuan Ch'i-jui who later served on the Hopei-Chahar political council. Wang was among the first of the Peiyang politicians to cooperate with the Japanese in 1937. He served as minister of relief and later as chairman of the Japanese-sponsored government in north China. […]

Lin Shu (8 November 1852-9 October 1924), the first major Chinese translator of Western fiction and one of the last important prose writers in the Chinese classical style. He also was known for his outspoken opposition to the new literary movements of the May Fourth period. Minhsien, Fukien, was the birthplace of Lin Shu. He […]

Chiang Tso-pin (1884-24 December 1942), a Hupeh military man and Peking government official who became the Chinese minister to Germany and Austria in 1928. From 1931 to 1936 he served as Chinese minister to Japan. Yingch'eng hsien in Hupeh province was the native place of Chiang Tso-pin. He received his early education in the traditional […]

Chin Yun-p'eng (1877-), a Peiyang Army officer of the Chihli faction who served Tuan Ch'i-jui as minister of war and premier ( 1 919— 21). After Chang Tso-lin established his influence in Peking, Chin retired from politics. In 1931 he became a Buddhist monk. Little is known of Chin Yun-p'eng's family background or childhood; he […]

Tuan Ch'i-jui 段祺瑞 T. Chih-ch'üan 芝泉 H. Cheng-tao lao-jen 正道老人 Tuan Ch'i-jui (6 March 1865-2 November 1936), Peiyang military leader and head of the Anhwei clique. He served at Peking as minister of war (1912-14), premier (April-June 1916; June 1916-May 1917; July-November 1917; March-October 1918), and as provisional chief executive at Peking from November 1924 […]